Wasted Dreams
by PrincessEurydice
Summary: This is a fairy tale that is about a Princess who longs to be rescued and a Prince who doesn't like repetition. Will they live happily ever after just because he found her? Read and find out! Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW! It helps me to write better!
1. Chapter 1

Ileana's POV

A long, sad sigh came from my throat as I looked out from my tower. How long would I be forced to sit up here, waiting for my prince to come?

I once heard a joke from Sir Rodingham, one of my fathers friends about princess once they were "out of their prime."

"You have to catch them early. The younger, the better. Once her beauty leaves her, there's nothing left!" he guffawed. Every other man in the room joined in, some looking pointedly at their wives. On the other hand, the women of the room all avoided each other's eyes. Not one of them was what one would consider "young." And so started my intense fear that my prince would come too late.

I was already sixteen years old. What in the world was taking my prince so long to find me?

Kerning's POV

The morning began like every other morning. I woke up and washed my body as well as I could in whatever water I could find. I ate the rest of the possum from the night before and prepared my horse. Repetition. Back home, I couldn't stand repetition. It was boring, pointless even. Why shouldn't I try new things?

In fact, had I known how much repetition there would be on this trip, I probably would have attempted to find some way out of it. Not that I would have been able to find a way out of it. Every prince had to make a voyage at one time or another to find their princess. Tradition stated it. Actually, I couldn't stand tradition either. Who made up those stupid rules and customs, anyway?

I mean, really, think about it. What sense does it make to make every princess, once she reaches the age of fifteen, to sit in a tower day after day? And why does every prince of nineteen have to go find one and make her his bride? When did this come about?

My horse, Guns, interrupted my musings as I finished my breakfast, with a snort. As I looked up to her, I noticed how high the sun was on the sky. "Damn! It's almost noon!" I quickly packed up the rest of my belongings and saddled Guns. "Giddy up!"

It was probably good that she interrupted my thoughts, I decided after a while. What good is thinking why we do things? We still end up having to do them, but then we really don't want to. I just hoped that my princess was near. I didn't know how much more of this I could take.

Ileana's POV

As the day wore on, I did all my normal activities. I finished yet another needlepoint of a castle. It was stored in my hope chest along with all the others and my wedding dress. I then braided my curly auburn hair and then began to sew a new night gown.

I wondered what life would be like once I was saved. Would I be like all those other wives, doing exactly what my husband wanted me to do? Yes, I would. I knew this and I knew that I had to accept it. It would be my life, even if I fought it.

I was just sitting down to my lunch when I heard them. Steady and even. What I had been wishing for. The trotting of a horse's feet. As quickly as I could, I stood up and ran over to my window.

It was a wild horse. Not exactly common to these areas, but not rare, either. Disappointed, I sat back down to whittle away my day. A few minutes later I heard some more cracking of dried leaves, but I decided not to get up again. It was just a disappointment to me.

I continued to eat slowly, when something registered in my brain. The "wild" horse had had a saddle. He had gotten away from his owner! At that moment, I heard a man's voice outside my window.

"Slow down Guns! Slow down!" I leaped up and ran over to the window.

Kerning's POV

I had not been riding for a very long time, when the wild boar spooked Guns. I was thrown off her back into some brambles that were sitting by the path and she continued to run. I knew immediately that I would have to follow her; she was the only thing that could transport me to my princess and then back home.

So, of course, I took off running after Guns as soon as I could pick my body up. I am not sure how far I ran until I caught sight of her, but she was galloping around in front of some tower. A tower! I knew that there had to be a princess in there, but first I had to catch Guns.

"Slow down Guns! Slow down!" I shouted as I chased after my horse. I continued to chase after her, until I noticed auburn curls blowing out in tendrils from the tower's window. I stopped chasing Guns and looked up to the window.


	2. Chapter 2

Ileana's POV

As I looked down from my tower, I couldn't help but wonder "Is this really my prince?" I watched as he chased around his horse, which I had figured out was named Guns, and wondered the horse had ever even gotten loose. No prince should ever loose their steed. It was all wrong. How could I rely on this man to be my husband when my first glance of him was in a desperate moment of stupidity?

Then he looked up at me suddenly and I caught my breathe. His hair was whipping around his face and I could tell that he had been traveling for a long while, because he needed a hair cut. Yet somehow, I didn't care even though normally I couldn't stand long hair on men. The long hair suited him as it grazed the back of his neck.

My heart skipped a beat as our eyes met. Is this love, I wondered vaguely, or am I just happy that he is finally here to rescue me? I had never believed in love at first sight. How could you fall in love with someone just by seeing how they look? Could you really fall in love with someone without knowing their values, or the way that they think? Before now, I had always believed the answer to be "no" there was no love at first sight. But now looking at my prince, I began to wonder whether I had been wrong all along…

Abruptly, he raised his hand sort of half-heartedly and waved to me. I noticed a bit of reluctance on his part and I suddenly realized that he could only be rescuing me, because his family had pressured him to. That was, after all, why I had waited so long in my tower to be rescued. I knew that it was foolish to fall in love with your prince. He would never reciprocate your feeling and you would just end up getting hurt. I vowed to my self long ago that no man, prince or otherwise, would ever steal my heart.

In reply to his wave, I daintily lifted my hand and smiled. I knew that this was the proper response. I decided then, that I could react to this man only with what I had been taught to do. "Hello there, good sir!" I cried out with what I had been taught to say. "Are you my prince by any chance? Have you come to save me?"

"Aye, m'lady. I am. My name is Prince Kerning of the kingdom of the Reams." A prince of the Reams! Every girl wished that a prince of the Reams would be the one to rescue them. Everyone knew that the kingdoms bordering the Reams River were the richest and most powerful in the land. "I have traveled across many a field to find you and now I have! Might I come up and meet you Princess?"

"You may, good sir. In fact, I do insist. I am Princess Ileana of the Kingdom of Benadigam. My father is King Odgem, fifth in line for the throne. My mother is Queen Poyen from the Kingdom Keta. I am most pleased that you have found me, Prince Kerning. I have waited a long while for you." As I finished the last of my words, he bounded up the stairs that led to my tower and into my small room.

Kerning's POV

The princess watched at me with her eyes, which I noticed were a shocking teal, as I climbed the stairs into her room. She was a princess from Benadigam, famous for their beautiful princesses. The woman in front of me was no exception to this rule, I noted to myself, as we sized each other up. Ileana wore a beautiful gown that complimented her eyes and her features were all regular. My mother would like this. She would produce lovely grandchildren to be heirs to the throne.

I wondered what Ileana thought of me. Did she think that I was handsome? I doubted it. My mother was always complaining to my father that my hair was too long. She believed that long hair took away what little beauty I did possess and one did not argue with my mother.

"I have traveled long and far to find you," I spoke the words that I had been taught from a young age. Tradition again. Who said that these were the right words to speak? Why couldn't I tell this beautiful woman in front of me what I really thought? I hated tradition with a passion. If it wasn't for tradition, I could be home right now, hunting perhaps or maybe studying one of the many books in my family's library.

But no, because of tradition, I had to be here speaking false words to this woman who was speaking false words back at me. I sometimes felt like our entire lives were scripted for us, we just had to speak the words and follow the actions. I wondered whether Ileana felt the same way, but I didn't want to speak out of the script for fear that she would disapprove.

"I am very glad," she replied and I noted a hint of something in her voice. What was it? Rebellion? Anger? Fear? Could it be love? No, I doubted love. The other thing that princesses from Benadigam were famous for was their inability to love. It was bred right out of them, I had heard. Any love that made it farther than birth, was then squished out by their fathers.

Fathers in Benadigam, I had always heard, believed that they were better than their wives. They taught their daughters that they were lower then their sons and made sure that they believed it. The son, after all, was the one to inherit the kingdom. The princess just moved to wherever her prince lived.

I decided that the hint of emotion must have been fear. She didn't know what to except from me. Would I be the same way? I knew that I would not be. In Reams, we were taught to respect princesses and to care for them. I knew that I could do this, but could I do the other thing that was expected of me? Could I grow to love this woman, Ileana?


	3. Chapter 3

Ileana's POV

I made dinner that night as I usually did, except with one difference: now, I was cooking for two. I cooked for my future husband, Kerning, a roasted chicken for it was tradition. The prince goes out and kills the meat; the princess takes it and makes it into a beautiful dinner. Tradition.

As we ate, neither of us talked. Instead, I examined every inch of my plate, shifting my food around, feeling extremely awkward. This would probably be considered tradition, too. You weren't supposed to find out that you really enjoyed getting to know your prince. You just had to know that you could marry him and create an alliance between your kingdoms. And, of course, produce handsome male heirs. To even think of loving your prince, your husband, was considered stupid. Most women didn't even think about it, or want for it if they were born of a noble family.

I believe that that's what made me so different from them all. When I was a young girl, I remember happening upon an old book of my nanny's. It had spoken of love and romance, and for a brief time I hoped to find these qualities in the man that I married. However, I soon realized that this could never be more than a dream; I was a princess, not a commoner that could chose who I was going to marry. So, I stopped even dreaming of love. It hurt too much to come back to reality and realize that these dreams would never happen.

But still, I know that even briefly dreaming about love changed me. I was different from all the other young women of noble birth, even my sisters. They had never been introduced to the concept of love, and thus never grew to dream or to hope for it. Instead, they would grow to be content in their husbands, who were just like their fathers and every other man that they had ever known. Perhaps they were happier than me; they didn't expect much, and they didn't get it. But in the back of my mind was a yearning desire for my dreams of love and romance to come true; I expect too much and I know that these dreams will never be fulfilled.

And yet, no one would ever know of these desires. I could only be alone in my misery and yearning.

Kerning's POV

Our first night together, Ileana cooked us the traditional first meeting dish: roasted chicken. We didn't talk; that was expected. Instead, all through the meal, I watched my future wife push her food around her plate, barely eating. I had to imagine that she was thinking. And I had a strange urge to know what she was thinking, to understand it.

"Good dinner," I said suddenly, breaking tradition. She looked up at me in shock. I realized right then how good it felt to break traditions. It was in that moment that I decided that I would break the ultimate tradition: I was going to fall in love with Ileana and I was going to make her love me.


End file.
